Sunday, September 23, 2007

On Saturday night, defenseman Dan Boyle from the Lightning was injured in a freak accident in the Bolts locker room following their 2-1 loss to the Capitals.Apparently, he was trying to hang up his skates and "got distracted". A skate fell and ended up severing a tendon in his left wrist.

"Distracted"? I wonder by what? Did Mark Messier and Gary Coleman pay a visit? If you're faint of heart, you may want to avert your eyes at this point.

No matter how many times I see that picture, I laugh. And at the same time, I'm creeped out on multiple levels. Moose has what appears to be a Red Stripe in his left hand. What the hell is he doing with his right hand, and what's that look on his face? Gary Coleman is in the locker room and has what looks like an autograph book in his hands. But he's got a pencil. A pencil? Who the hell gets things autographed with a pencil? And Coleman himself was a pretty big star back then (presumably around 1984 or so). What's he doing getting autographs?

Anyway... back to the point.Boyle is hurt. He's having surgery today and will be out of the lineup for about eight weeks. I participated in two fantasy drafts yesterday, and I picked him in one.

I wonder why the vague "he was distracted" explanation was given. At least when former NFL quarterback Brian Griese fell down drunk and broke his wrist in 2002, he came up with something creative. He said that his dog came barreling down the stairs and knocked him down. He later "tripped" in Terrell Davis' driveway, suffering another "freak" injury.

I'm not saying that Boyle was drunk or that he's trying to hide something. If he was distracted by something, they should name the thing. We wanna know. A naked lady? An awkward moment between Mark Messier and Gary Coleman? A joke told by Paul Ranger?

While we're at it, if you look at the TOI stats, you'll see that Boyle played for 32:20 and Ranger played for over 30 minutes in a freakin' EXHIBITION game. What's that all about? Maybe Boyle wanted some rest, so he "accidentally" cut himself.

Boyle was fourth on the team last season and first among defensemen with 63 (20/43) points. He was fifth on the team with 62 PIM and fifth on the team with 203 shots taken. He was fifth on the team with 10 power play goals and third on the team with four game winning goals. This will not be an easy task for the Bolts to replace him.

My fantasy team has replaced him with his Tampa Bay teammate Filip Kuba.

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